Case Studies

Labour Day Parade callout gets ACTRA Toronto out in force

A call to ACTRA Toronto members by President Heather Allin sparked a large turnout to the 2009 Toronto Labour Day Parade. With the theme: "More Canada on Canadian TV" ACTRA's lively contingent marched the 4.5-kilometre route from University Avenue to the Canadian National Exhibition along with thousands of other union members from dozens of other unions in one of the largest parades in Toronto Labour history. "Bring your family and friends and let's have a blast!" Allin told her members, and they did.

IATSE Local 58 - Family Holiday Party

IATSE Local 58 calls all members to invite them and their families to a holiday season party.
Members are asked to call the local office to RSVP and also give the names and ages of their children so that personalized age-appropriate gifts are available at the party, which turns out to be the most successful such event in the local's history.

HSAA - "Save My Pension"

Elizabeth Ballerman, President of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, calls 11,000 members who belong to the Local Authorities Pension Plan to alert them to a negative change in LAPP procedures, one that would allow the board to make important decisions about fundamental aspects of the pension without any input from union representatives.
She urges members to visit a special website, SaveMyPension.ca and to call their MLAs to demand the rules be changed back.

Hotel workers rally and protest U.S. firings

A Union Calling broadcast with a multilingual greeting helped pack the Council Chamber at Toronto City Hall with 600 members of Unite Here Local 75 celebrating International Hotel Workers' Day.
Local President Paul Clifford then led the members on a march to the downtown Hyatt hotel to protest the abrupt firing and replacement of 100 non-union Hyatt workers in Boston.
Toronto was the first of 12 cities across North America where UniteHere staged public demonstrations against Hyatt's unfair treatment of its workers.

ETFO - Provincial Election Call

Karen Fisk, President of the ETFO Hastings-Prince Edward in Eastern Ontario calls members with endorsements for two local candidates in the Ontario General Election. "These candidates are strong advocates for a partnership in public education that includes teachers, students, and the broader community."

CUPE Ontario Pension Fund Protest

To challenge the government's changes to municipal workers' pension fund, CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan used Union Calling to mobilize a Day of Protest involving thousands of members - and then call it off at the last minute when the government changed its position.

CUPE Ontario comes out in force for locked-out Steelworkers in Hamilton

Several hundred CUPE Ontario members from all over the province converged on Hamilton on January 29, 2011 to join a massive demonstration of protest against the U.S. Steel lockout of 900 Steelworkers after they refused to agree to massive pension concessions.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn used Union Calling to recruit members for the historic rally and tell them about the CUPE buses that would be leaving many communities for Hamilton on the Day of Action.
"Their fight is our fight, and it's one we cannot afford to lose," Hahn told the members in a callout. "Come to Hamilton to show solidarity."

CUPE Ontario and Council of Canadians - Bottled Water Ban Campaign

CUPE Ontario and Council of Canadians - Bottled Water Ban Campaign
The bottled water industry has become hugely profitable by undermining public faith in the safety of municipal water systems. A 15-city speaking tour across Ontario featured Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly and national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and Sid Ryan, CUPE Ontario President.
Union Calling was used by both organizations to call their members in each city to inform them of the issue and invite them to the public meetings, which were very successful. Thousands were called in Windsor, Brockville, Midland, Waterloo, St. Catharines, Toronto, Kingston, Whitby, London, Guelph, Ottawa, Owen Sound, Cobourg, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Kenora and Peterborough.

CUPE Nova Scotia - Fighting Privatization

Danny Cavanaugh, President of CUPE Nova Scotia, calls all members of Local 2431 who work in Sydney at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
"The government is charging ahead with the recommendations in the Corpus-Sanchez Report and with privatization schemes that will affect you and your family."
The meeting is well-attended and successful in alerting members to the threats of privatization.

CUPE 1975 - University Support Workers Demonstration and Strike

A strike by the more than 2000 CUPE Local 1975 members at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon was launched by a Union Calling message from the negotiating committee.
Just prior to the strike, a callout from Union Calling resulted in the largest on-campus demonstration in the university's history by CUPE. Union Calling was also used to call the strike and, weeks later announce a settlement that involved biding arbitration.

Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union - Ontario Referendum Vote

Then CEP Ontario Region Vice-President Cec Makowski calls thousands of member throughout the province to urge them to vote YES in the referendum on proportional representation being held in concert with the Ontario General Election.
Although the Mixed Member Proportional Representation system fails to win the required 60% vote, post-election indications are that CEP members overwhelmingly supported it.

Canadian Auto Workers - Casino Organizing: Debate with Management

Bob Orr, Assistant to CAW President Ken Lewenza calls workers in Niagara Falls casinos to announce that the union has challenged management to a debate on whether or not the workers need a union and invites them to the meeting.
Management fails to show but turnout for the meeting was excellent and showed solid support for the union.

Canadian Actors' Equity Association Getting out the Vote for National Referendum

Actors' Equity uses Union Calling to contact members across Canada, urging them to vote in a National Referendum on the governing structure of the Association. Balloting was much heavier than expected and the referendum passed.

Boilermakers Local 416 - Alberta Video Conference Meeting

Local 416 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers represents thousands of workers throughout Alberta. Members work at all hours and at many locations around the province, so communications are a challenge.
Business Manager Warren Fraleigh used Union Calling to advise all members about a meeting in Edmonton to discuss a major upcoming project. Live video conferencing was available to members in Calgary and Fort McMurray.

ATU poll shows high public support for free transit for vets

Bob Kinnear, President of Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 113 had proposed to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) that Canadian Forces veterans of World War II and the Korean War be allowed to take the TTC without charge, a practice already in place in some other Ontario cities.
Local 113 commissioned Union Calling to conduct an automated public phone poll on the issue, which found 80 per cent support for the idea among city residents. The poll results are being used to press the TTC to adopt this idea.